Besides being hell on earth for the unfortunate pigs imprisoned indoors with no access to the sun or grass, CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations, aka factory farms) are a health disaster waiting to happen. The Washington Post reports that a virus like H1N1, once introduced into a CAFO by human workers, with its thousands of pigs living in a confined area, can “reassort” genetically and become an even more lethal pandemic.  Add to that the fact that pig farmers are paranoid, as well they should be, about being shut down if a virus is discovered in their CAFOs, so they’re not exactly eager to have their pigs tested for viruses that can infect humans. It’s a very scary scenario and yet another reason to outlaw factory farming.